You should not comment unless you have an account on both with over 200 friends and have used it for something other than doing research.

Both deals make absolutely sense, since they pay for the users, not the technology.

There is a cross-media integration stiry, i.e. Movie/TV (passive user) with internet / feedback ( active user interest group)

As a traditional media company (Murdoch / Time Warner / etc) you want to keep control over what people feel and think, as it was in the past 50 years, if not the last 500 years (printing & publishing).

So they want / have to get control over the new internet communities. A subtile idea of course, but THE USER will just slowly emanzipate his thinking and emotions over the next decades.

Yahoo adds technology, that is poor in myspace. As yahoo has everything, but no real community.
AOL had a community and the technology, but even less than Web1.0 sex appeal. Therefore they need a sexy thing, to attract the masses - thats e.g. Facebook.

Just a speculation, but who else would pay that much for Facebook.

I too think MySpace is one of the most hideous sites on the web when it comes to design. But I’m not so detached from reality to recognize that it obviously still has massive appeal to the average joe that’s going to be tough to beat. Yeah it’s ugly. But it is extremely easy to sign on and use whereas Facebook (while aesthetically pleasing and with a lot of nice features) could easily seem more tedious and because of its cleaner design (ironically) downright sterile to the average user who’s simply looking to have fun and interact with other personalities online.

I think a more appropriate analogy for MySpace would be to compare it to AIM - they’re both networks based on interaction. Sure, AIM isn’t the hip IM platform of choice among elite techies. But if you want to stay in touch with people outside our world, you’ve got to have an AIM account because that’s what the vast majority of people use. I think MySpace might now be enjoying a similar market position where the staying power defies conventional wisdom among those in the Facebook-targeted audience.

Too bad the likes of Craiglist and others are part of the Web 1.0 crowd as well.

Then again as my history professor used to say “the screw up theory of history is usually more correct than the conspiracy theory” so maybe it was just an unguarded moment.

Is Facebook trying to give MySpace a run for its money? Absolutely. It’s getting a lot of hype right now, which is obviously helping fuel recent growth. Whether that hype will give it long-term momentum remains to be seen. MySpace should certainly recognize that dominance today doesn’t necessarily secure dominance tomorrow. I’m sure the folks at MySpace remember the once dominant social network they killed (Friendster). But the same is true for Facebook. Duncan points out that it would probably take Facebook several years to catch up to MySpace but let’s not forget that a lot will happen over the next few years and it’s likely that MySpace and Facebook will both find themselves competing against the “next big thing.”

if you wanna check out a real site, check out http://www.urflick.com

If Yahoo could negotiate better terms say 10-15%, this would be a good deal. Regardless of the usability, Facebook is not close to catching Myspace.

I’m 28, left college as soon as Myspace was taking off. It kept me in touch with friends I had left behind. I recently tried Facebook and there is no way Facebook will overtake Myspace unless the execs at Fox screw it up. Myspace is just not as complicated to use.

Although I am seeing a lot more “friends” with both Facebook and Myspace accounts out of necessity, it’s just situational. I recently organized my class reunion and the only people on Facebook are the ones in grad school. You conform to what’s being asked of you. No one is ‘asking’ me to be on Facebook - yet.

When I started using Facebook I thought it was too plain, but the more I used it, the more I liked it. I like the way privacy can be controlled. There are so many ways to stay connected: status updates, posted notes, links, groups, applications, photos… and the mini feed is a great way to keep in touch with your friends!

As far as MySpace revenue, there is probably additional revenue from partnerships and more integrated advertising, but I still suspect that at best they’re breaking even.

Allen - I think I might agree with you that the two sites don’t necessarily have to be compared in a straight horizontal. Maybe old age has me appreciating nicer and more eye appealing UI. Or something.

-Mary from BINC

I’d love to see the p & l for myspace. It’d be an interesting read to say the least. From what I have read though, Adweek reported back in February that myspace is pulling in over $25million per month in advertising revenue alone, not counting any other revenue streams, and growing at 30 percent per quarter. These stats put it at generating over $450million by the end of the year.

Since Newscorp. paid well below $580million for just myspace (they got a couple dozen other web properties as well in the deal)… Newscorp. is well into the black.

To top it off…has anyone seen the click-through rates for the banners on myspace. What a joke.

I am inclined to agree with Mike though…something big is definately happening.

MySpace = Bridge and Tunnel crowd
Facebook = Cool kids

Anton